Rahul Gandhi to lead Aug 5 protest in Bengaluru over vote theft | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: Congress MP and former AICC chief Rahul Gandhi will visit Bengaluru on Aug 5 and lead a rally to protest alleged electoral malpractices and reveal “the modus operandi of vote theft” based on a deep-dive investigation into a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka.Later that day, a delegation led by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala, chief minister Siddaramaiah, and his deputy D K Shivakumar, will submit a memorandum to the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Karnataka. Responding to the charges, Karnataka’s CEO, V Anbukumar, said, “Electoral rolls are prepared transparently, and no formal appeals were received.“Following a party meeting Tuesday, Shivakumar said, “Rahul Gandhi has voiced concerns against irregularities in elections. He had said that such things took place in Karnataka too, so he will come and give a representation to Election Commission officials and expose the modus operandi.”Rahul’s tentative schedule includes an address to party workers at Freedom Park before heading to the CEO’s office. However, home minister G Parameshwara said, “There will not be a procession.” This is due to a 2022 high court order banning processions and protests in the city’s central business district.Shivakumar revealed KPCC’s research team conducted an extensive study “on how votes were manipulated”.“The team has given [Rahul] a lot of information,” Shivakumar said. “My leader himself will reveal all. It’s not just about Bihar or any one place — the real question is how votes have been misused. There were a lot of complaints about vote theft, even during assembly elections. We have also carried out a major investigation across the state, focusing on a few constituencies. I won’t go into the details right now — my leader will explain everything to you.“On July 23, Rahul had launched a direct attack on the Election Commission, alleging: “In Karnataka, we found ‘bhayankar chori’ (massive theft). I will show it in black and white to you and the EC. We have it in black and white in Karnataka. They know that we have understood their game. We picked one constituency and did a deep dive. Problem is that they give a voters list on paper and the paper list cannot be analysed. We took the full voters list of one constituency. We put it in digital format. It took six months, but we have uncovered their whole system and how they do it, who votes and from where new voters are brought.”He had also alleged: “The EC is not doing its job. We have concrete, 100% proof of the poll panel allowing cheating in a seat in Karnataka… We have caught them.”Supporting the allegations, chief minister Siddaramaiah accused BJP of illegally manipulating the electoral process in Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat “through sudden and suspicious additions of new voters” and arbitrary deletions. Shivakumar, referring to Bangalore Rural, said: “A lot of golmaal had been done.”Sources say Congress has evidence that some voters from Bangalore Central also cast ballots in a neighbouring state. “We have documents to show names of voters belonging to a particular community were selectively dropped from electoral rolls,” a senior party functionary said.